A local homeless shelter invites the community to celebrate and support its next phase of renovations and ongoing programs this weekend.

Second Chance Mission of Hope will host a Pre-Open House Fundraiser on Saturday beginning at noon at 309 Court St. in Jacksonville.

Activities include live music from the Radiant Soles band of Wilmington, encouraging words from guest speaker Evangelist Michael Thornton at 1 p.m., barbecue and chicken dinners by Bright’s Seafood and hot dogs sales throughout the day. The public is also welcome to take a tour through the shelter to view upper level renovations of the building, including women’s residential quarters and bathrooms, new beds donated by a local church, added walls and improvements to the ceiling and floors.

Director Jacqueline Whyatt and her husband James have dedicated years to the mission, which was founded as a spiritual outreach ministry in 1985 by the Rev. Milton and Odessa Sullivan. The former First Baptist Church building has become a safe haven for thousands of individuals and families seeking an improved quality of life.

“The mission has helped a lot of people and I think it’s because we don’t just focus on one aspect of a person’s life,” Whyatt said. “Our main mission is to feed the mind, body and soul. It’s our belief is that if you do that, a person can become whole.”

The goal of the mission is to offer transitional housing, referrals to local health care providers, employers and social service agencies, as well as clothing and other services. The shelter also has a pantry that donates food to the community every Wednesday.

“The key part of this fundraiser is to keep us in operation,” Whyatt said. “There’s all types of expenses that needs to be paid. We generally survive off of $50 to $55,000 a year, and that comes through the donations that come in.”

Whyatt said that most of the expenses are used for heating and gas bills and providing gas money for volunteers to deliver food to residents.

The Rev. Richard Thornton, a minister for Onslow County Jail, helped to organize the fundraiser because of the positive impact on inmates transitioning into a new life and his participation in conducting weekly bible study services for shelter residents.

“I’ve seen young girls and men go on to get their GED and some who went to college and got degrees, and we took in families who couldn’t pay rent over the years,” Thornton said. “We just had to put in to new heating and air unit. When you’re dealing with food, freezers and refrigerators and gas and heating bills, it takes a lot to do that.”

Thornton said that he hopes the event will bring churches and people of all backgrounds together to help the mission remain as a stable foundation for its residents.

Page 2 of 2 - “I know of no other place in the county that does so much for the least amount of money,” he said. “It’s literally fed thousands of people with boxes of food and it's a wonderful ministry.”